by E. M. Hardy
Elia laughed. “You know, sometimes I forget this is a video game until you make funny comments like that. Come on, silly, there’s a Save Girl right over there. We can ask her.”
This Save Girl was wearing similar clothing to the one from Strovport. She had long silver-platinum hair and a pair of glasses on, but instead of a headband with kitten ears she sported a Victorian-era style scarf.
“Greetings,” the Save Girl said as we walked to her. “My name is Ninya. Would you like to save?”
Both of us nodded and Ninya noted Cael’vron as our new Spawn Point. I then asked, “Where can we find the nearest temple? We need to avail of divination services. Where’s the nearest inn as well?”
Ninya pointed down the street, but I couldn’t see where or what she was indicating due to the smog. “Continue down the Street of Blades until you reach the Griffin Fountain. That’ll be the central plaza. You’ll find the Brokers’ Ridge Inn and Tavern there. There is a temple dedicated to the Lord of Dawn just southwest of that point.”
“Thank you,” Elia replied, and she led me down the street. We had to hurry to the sidewalk to avoid incoming traffic. There were several horse-led carriages and wagons passing through, and none of the drivers seemed to care about running over people just trying to get by.
“What the hell is wrong with this place?” I asked, as we zigzagged through the crowd gathered around town. “The smog is so freaking thick, feels like someone has thrown a smoke grenade.”
Elia motioned towards the shops around us. “Look around. There are so many stores in here, I can only imagine how much coal is burning every day to keep them all running.”
She was right. With so many businesses requiring fuel to function, the amount of coal needed would have to be tremendous. I guessed being such a revolutionary town had its downfalls. I then recalled how people back in Strovport had warned us of this place, particularly Louisa. They had mentioned it was a dangerous place, and Elia had also remarked how only the strongest survived in this town. So far, however, I hadn’t witnessed any real danger.
We walked in silence from that point on, not wanting to draw too much attention to ourselves. We knew nobody in this town other than Captain Klarg who was set on departing soon to get his ship properly fixed. Elia and I were pretty much on our own until we could find the Silver Blades office.
As we progressed, my eyes roamed and it was then that I realized the danger wasn’t as obvious as one would suspect. This wasn’t a town where goblins and wild Jellies represented the main issue. There were no jerks like Parnax lurking in the shadows, waiting for a novice to take advantage of. Instead, I came to see the vultures were right out in the open, hiding amongst the crowd.
I noticed men weaving through the mob, inching their way towards us. One was carrying a bucket of charcoal, another was pretending to be a street food vendor while another still was posing as an adventurer. At first, it was just a feeling, mere remnants of that sixth sense I had developed through my profession. But when I spotted those guys from the corner of my eye, all converging towards us, I knew we were being targeted. They used the thick smog to evade my wandering gaze.
“Elia, we’re being followed,” I whispered to her.
She was wise enough to not look back and simply asked, “How many are there?”
“At least three,” I replied. “I don’t think we can deal with them. They might be at higher levels than us.”
“They could be programmed enemies,” she pointed out. “Not everyone trying to rob and mob us are dickheaded players.”
I shrugged. “Whenever someone’s being a pain in the neck, I usually assume it’s a player. The game has nothing to gain but players do.”
“So what do we do?”
“Well, you know… Run like hell!” I answered, and we both dashed forward.
We raced like crazy, pushing anyone and everyone in front of us so we could reach our destination before these muggers could catch up. As soon as we took off, all three men dropped their disguise and they began to openly chase after us. To my utter dismay, I saw there were two more joining them.
Three against two was already horrible odds, but five against two was an obvious death sentence. Even if they were low-level like us, it still meant Elia and I had to outsmart five different adventurers.
I didn’t even dare to stop and fight back. I just made haste, and Elia did the same. We powered through the villagers with our pursuers coming in close, until we reached a central plaza with a big fountain in the center. There was a big statue of a griffin – a lion with the head and wings of an eagle – spewing water out of its beak into the fountain.
“Here,” I said, as I yanked Elia away from the center of the plaza and straight into the waters. We splashed in and quickly discovered the fountain was more than three feet deep. We both sank to the bottom, due to the sheer weight of our armor, particularly Elia.
She held her breath and looked at me, waiting for me to give a suggestion of what to do next. I simply pressed my finger to my lips, signaling for her to remain silent and wait. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to wait that long.
One of the pursuers got up to the fountain and glanced around, uncertain where we had vanished. I could see he was a little hesitant to check the dark and murky waters of the fountain. Soon, he was joined by one of his accomplices.
Without warning, I gripped an arrow and rose from the water. As I emerged from my cover, I activated my Fire Shot and unleashed all three arrows at the first enemy right above us. All shots were a direct hit across the man’s chest and I watched the damage stack. He wasn’t falling dead yet, which confirmed his level was quite higher than ours since his HP could take all that punishment. I then switched to my dagger and slashed as many times as I could across his thorax and windpipe until, finally, he dropped into the water and dissolved, leaving his gear behind.
His companion was about to rush at me when Elia pulled the same trick as I did and smacked him down with her shield. He didn’t take much damage, but he did trip and landed into the fountain. Elia pushed down and used the weight of her armor and shield to keep him under water. He struggled to breathe, and we watched as his HP drained and he drowned. I ended his misery with a series of stabs to the heart.
Wet, bloody and raging like beasts, we instantly drew attention. A lot of the people around us stared like we were caged animals gone loose. The other three pursuers seemed to have changed their minds and faded back into the smog to go somewhere else, knowing now that Elia and I meant business.
Then, we heard someone clapping. We turned around to see a man wearing a long brown trench coat, brown boots and a top hat and monocle, walking towards us. The rest of the rubbernecks quickly dispersed and went on with their activities as if nothing happened. That immediately sent a message of caution to me and I studied the newcomer with concern.
“Magnificent,” the man said.
Elia pointed her mace at him. “Who are you?”
“My name is Ritorio Grahm and I am the son of the Grand Duke of Cael’vron, who answers solely to the king of Strovport,” he introduced himself. He then reached forward and offered to help Elia out of the Griffin Fountain. She accepted his hand and stepped out of the water.
I was about to loot the equipment left behind by our assailants when Ritorio halted me.
“Oh, don’t bother with that,” he told me. “I’ll have my men pick that stuff up for you. You’re already wet and bloody. Come with me, we’ll have you two cleaned up.”
I shot a glance at Elia. She didn’t seem to have any clue as to what we should do. So, I turned to Ritorio and said, “Well, sure, why the hell not.”
“Good! Good, now come along with me.” He made a gesture and up came a large luxurious carriage pulled by four black horses. The driver of the coach was a big, barbaric-looking orc oddly dressed in a black suit with a bowtie and top hat.
Three guards, dressed somewhat like real world musketeers from the e
ighteenth century and armed with slender rapiers, attended to us. One opened the door of the carriage, another grabbed the loot I was going to get myself, and the last one stood guard for Ritorio.
Ritorio got into the carriage and beckoned for us to hop right on in with him. Elia and I shared a concerned glance, but we felt it would be unwise to upset a member of the nobility on our first day here. She took his hand and got into the carriage, and I followed suit.
When we were properly seated inside, the guard shut the door and the trio surrounded the carriage. The driver then took the reins and, soon thereafter, we began to move.
“I have no doubt you are wondering why one such as I would stoop down to speak with common sellswords such as yourself,” Ritorio said with his superior air. He didn’t even wait for us to respond and continued, “Gossip travels fast here, darlings, and I heard all about your chivalries aboard the Obelisk Gallant.”
“Hold on sir,” Elia managed to slip in. “Who told you about what happened on the Obelisk Gallant? We literally just got off that ship.”
Ritorio’s eyes glimmered with a wicked shine and, when he grinned, it was more diabolical than reassuring.
“Darling, let’s just say I have eyes and ears everywhere,” he said, letting us know he had spies on all corners. “Now, let’s get down to business shall we? I have a very important proposal I want to offer you.”
Oh crap. Was he just another NPC? I bet he was, and he would give us another lame quest that led nowhere. I didn’t want to have to sit through this. I was sure the narrative was going to be interesting and all the details would be engaging for someone playing the game for kicks, but not for me. I was here to get revenge.
I was about to jump in and tell this Ritorio I had no intention of signing up for another quest, even if it was coming from such a prestigious noble as himself, but then he said some magic words that got my attention and made me shut up instantly.
“You see, darlings, I have word that those pirates that hit you were initiate members for a company called the Ascendants,” he said. “The Ascendants have been causing a lot of trouble here in Cael’vron, secretly manipulating the market and black market alike.”
Elia and I both listened in like our lives depended on it.
“Do you want us to take them out?” Elia dared to ask.
Ritorio looked at her with a face of disgust and then burst out laughing. It was a high-pitched, annoying little laugh, like the one pigs would have if they could chortle. “No, no, no, darling, not at all. They’d massacre you before you even got within a mile of their headquarters.”
“So what do you expect of us then?” I asked. Even I knew we couldn’t fight the Ascendants head-on. That was the whole reason why we were joining the Silver Blades in the first place.
Ritorio flashed his wicked grin again. “I just want you to sign up some allies for me. The Ascendants are really powerful and very influential. We cannot win a war against them with pure brute force. We’ll need political power and an army behind it, darling, so I’m asking you to go out there and make some friends.”
“That’s exactly what we were about to do until you showed up,” Elia explained. “We were heading to join the Silver Blades, so we could gain allies against those bastards.”
“Oh, marvelous!” Ritorio exclaimed, and he clapped his hands. “So you two have history with them too? This makes it all the more exciting!”
I waved a hand to calm him down. “Wait, wait, wait a minute. I want something from your end too. I want you to cooperate with us in this and secure me and Elia here some political influence. Let me remind you – we don’t work for you, but we can work with you.”
“Darling, you drive such a hard bargain. I love the way you’re so upfront about this though,” he said, and he rubbed his hand on my leg, which was a little unsettling. “Don’t worry. I’ll have a word with the Silver Blades and make sure they give you the light of day. That doesn’t mean you’ll get in – you do have to pass their test, after all. That part’s on you. I’ll also make sure you two don’t get blindsided by thugs like those from earlier, and that you don’t run into trouble with the city authorities.”
“How?” Elia and I asked simultaneously.
Ritorio reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two badges. They were about half the size of my fist and bore the emblem of a bear on a red field. He gave us one each and waited for us to pin them on our clothing.
“This is the symbol of House Grahm,” he explained. “Wearing this lets everyone know you are associated with the Grand Duke, my father. No one is going to screw you, darling, because no one wants to mess with me.”
At least, that would solve our problems with riff-raffs. We might not be high level, but I was sure even the higher level players didn’t want to piss off the head honcho of this city.
“You’re dropping off at the Silver Blades office, yes?” Ritorio asked for confirmation. “Well, we’re about here. I’ll let you two darlings off. If you ever need to speak with me, just head to the lone red house on the Street of Hammers and tell the baker there that you want the freshest loaf of bread and white tea to go with it. He’ll do the rest. Okay, ta-ta!”
The carriage came to a halt and the guard beckoned for us to step down. Once we were outside, the door shut before we could properly bid Ritorio farewell. Just as quickly as we had met him, he and his retinue departed and soon got out of sight, swallowed up by the smog.
Left on our own, we found ourselves in front of a two-story building that looked like it was on the verge of collapsing. It was already leaning in on the building beside it, and that one too was on the edge of destruction. Above the doorway hung a sign that read “Silver Blades Headquarters – Cael’vron Division.”
“Ladies first,” I said, politely and yet sarcastically, as I took the doorknob, opened and gestured for Elia to head in.
Chapter Seventeen
Inside the building, we found a loud, chaotic mess of an office. The reception hall of the Silver Blades had men and women bustling about, carrying stacks of paperwork or weapon and armor supplies like arrows or leather.
At the main desk, there sat an elderly man with neatly kept white hair and a white beard, arguing with three soldiers. One of them wore a stereotypical wizard hat, the pointy kind often seen on Halloween; the second one looked like a Battle Priest but was fully decked out with black and silver armor that must have been way more expensive and powerful than the basic suit Elia had on. The third soldier speaking with the old man at the table looked like an Assassin, though he wasn’t wearing the typical “ninja” outfit, instead opting to go shirtless and carry daggers and a hand crossbow on his belt. He had an unkempt short beard and slicked-back brown hair.
We approached them and tried to butt in, but they kept on arguing. I couldn’t really understand what it was they were blabbering on about, but Elia did and she quickly interrupted them with a mace to the table.
“Excuse me!” she screamed, just as the mace smashed down on the table. “I’ve been standing here for a good minute and a half with my companion and none of you ill-mannered jerks were courteous enough to stop bickering to even look at us.”
Woah. I had seen her in the heat of combat, but this was something else entirely. Even I had to take a step back for a second.
The guy with the mage hat curtsied and said, “We apologize, milady. My name is Rembrandt and welcome to the Silver Blades. How can we help you?”
The old man remained in his seat and gestured for the battle priest to fetch some for us. Once we had our chairs, we sat down and he introduced himself, “My name is Vahn Alben. I’m the Lord Commander of the Silver Blades.”
He then pointed to the mage, the assassin and the battle priest as he introduced them in that order. “You’ve met Rembrandt and these are Null and Valentine. What level are you two?”
I then remembered that the Silver Blades were a company of players, not programmed NPCs. To see Lord Commander
Alben and think there was a player behind this image was a little jarring – while the character was old, I was pretty sure the player was some twenty or so year-old kid.
“Three,” I answered, “but we’re likely to level up to four soon. We had a really big, unexpected skirmish while aboard the Obelisk Gallant.”
Elia handed the letter from Captain Klarg and that from Mikaela. “We have two letters of recommendation. One’s from Mikaela, who was looking for recruits in Strovport, and this is from Klarg, the captain of the Obelisk Gallant.”
I also flashed Ritorio’s pin for emphasis. “Oh, and this as well. The Grand Duke’s son had a word with us after we got off the skyship station and he gave us this.”
Everyone in the office, even the ones walking around carrying paperwork, paused when they heard of our accomplishments. It was like everyone was waiting for Alben to make a comment, but the man was too busy reading the two letters. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and rubbed his chin as he stared at us both.
“You completed Mikel’s quest in Strovport, just the two of you, meaning you beat an ogre at such low levels,” he exclaimed. “You boarded a ship run by the Ascendants, blew it out of the sky, and fought side-by-side with Klarg himself. Even the Grand Duke’s son seems to like you. Impressive feats, no doubt, and if it was just up to my decision I would sign you up to join our ranks.”
“You mean we still have to complete the test.” I knew this was going to be a problem. I wasn’t so sure if Elia and I could handle it at our current level. Now I wished we had stopped by a temple first to get a divination and level up.
Elia shrugged and whispered to me, “I think we can manage. They’ll probably ask us to go kill some monsters or something like that. It can’t be that complex.”
I had my doubts, but I didn’t want to ruin her good spirits. I just turned to Alben and said, “That’s understandable. We don’t want any special treatment, anyway. What kind of test do you expect we take?”